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Atlatls use leverage to launch spears faster and farther than hand-thrown javelins.
ancient

How Ancient Dart Launchers Changed the Game for Early Female Hunters

A female archaeologist is challenging the idea of men as hunters and women as gatherers, one throw at a time.
Roxanne Hoorn September 5, 2023
A bronze fast of a female face atop a pedestal with a lighthouse in the background
New York, New York

Girl Puzzle Monument

An art installation commemorates journalist Nellie Bly's undercover reporting inside a New York asylum.
An Indigenous Mexican healer, known as a <em>curandera</em>, performs a ritual at El Rancho de Las Golondrinas, a living history museum in New Mexico.
witchcraft

Podcast: Witches and Ritual Around the Globe

Explore the mysteries of Mexico's Indigenous healers and Denmark's gruesome witch burnings with Condé Nast Traveler's Women Who Travel Podcast.
The Podcast Team July 3, 2023
Mapping Diversity shows the birthplaces of the women who live on as street names in major European cities. “Male” street names outnumber “female" ones 10 to one.
maps

The Most Popular Person in European Street Names Is a Woman

Can you guess who it is?
Frank Jacobs, Big Think June 16, 2023
bronze statue of a woman with a samurai sword and fan in a kimono
Kyoto, Japan

Statue of Izumo-no-Okuni

The groundbreaking Japanese shrine maiden who invented the art of kabuki.
In 1938, Elzada Clover (first row, second from left) and Lois Jotter (first row, second from right) were the first non-Indigenous women to raft the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon.
science

The Historic Grand Canyon Adventure Two Women Had For Science

Botanists Elzada Clover and Lois Jotter braved rapids and steep cliffs to catalog numerous plant species.
Sarah Durn May 29, 2023
The Temple itself
Indian Springs, Nevada

Sekhmet Temple of Goddess Spirituality

This hidden, women-built-and-operated Nevada temple on Shoshone Native American land is dedicated to the Egyptian lion goddess Sekhmet among other goddesses.
Chemist and physicist Marie Curie works in the lab with her husband Pierre in 1896. Curie would go on to win two Nobel prizes for her groundbreaking research on radioactivity.
radioactive

Marie Curie As You’ve Never Met Her Before

The world’s first two-time Nobel Laureate was a nerd’s nerd who broke the law for knowledge.
Sarah Durn April 20, 2023
An all-women team of aquanauts was a novelty in 1970. Pictured from left to right: Ann Hartline, Sylvia Earle, Renate True, Alina Szmant, and Peggy Lucas Bond.
science

The Forgotten Women Aquanauts of the 1970s

These scientists spent weeks underwater doing research—and convincing NASA women could also go into space.
Amy Crawford March 24, 2023
A rainbow of pelmeni.
food

Meet the Women Behind the Heritage Food Revival

From Ukrainian pelmeni to Appalachian fried fish, these innovators are drawing on generations of culinary wisdom.
Diana Hubbell March 20, 2023
A bar in Philadelphia that still keeps its “Ladies Entrance” sign.
bars

The Feminist History Behind the Ladies' Entrance

There's a story behind these hidden pub snugs and saloon doors.
Diana Hubbell March 13, 2023
Flowers at the plaque in 2021.
Chihuahua, Mexico

Marisela Escobedo Memorial Plaque

This simple plaque remembers the fearless human rights defender's tragic death.
At a South Pacific hospital, Eleanor speaks with a sailor from Fort Worth, Texas, who was injured while unloading a ship. US Admiral William F. Halsey recalled being awed by the expressions on the men’s faces as the First Lady leaned over them in hospital beds.
presidents

That Time Eleanor Roosevelt Disappeared for 10 Days

She reappeared in World War II's Pacific theater where, for five weeks in 1943, she inspired troops and faced down air raids.
Sarah Durn February 16, 2023
Queen Njinga Mbandi rides into battle against the Portuguese, as illustrated by Pat Masioni for UNESCO's series on women in African history.
military history

Meet Caterina Sforza and Other Warrior Queens History Forgot

From Italy’s fortress-seizing countess to Angola’s battle-hardened Queen Njinga, these women didn’t back down from a fight.
Sarah Durn January 26, 2023
Tana Luciya Joji practices a wheelie on a quiet stretch of asphalt in Kerala, India.
roads

In India, These Trailblazing Female Stunt Bikers Rule the Road

For decades, these women have fought (and won) the right to stunt.
Shubha Menon January 25, 2023
By the way the metal gets hot
Falmouth, Massachusetts

Rachel Carson Memorial

A monument to the groundbreaking environmentalist sits near the place where she first experienced the sea.
Activist and traditional Mayan beekeeper Leydy Pech fought one of the biggest titans in commercial agriculture—and won.
restaurants

7 Trailblazing Women from Every Continent

In 2022, we traveled the globe to share the stories of powerful warriors, fearless activists, and more.
Sarah Durn December 13, 2022
Medium Eusapia Palladino performs a séance at the French home of astronomer Camille Flammarion on November 24, 1898.
witchcraft

The Secret History of Female and Nonbinary Occultists

A new book examines how supernatural beliefs have often offered a voice, visibility, and vulnerabilities.
Sarah Durn October 25, 2022